- calendar_today August 13, 2025
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CMS is planning a nationwide effort to identify and terminate from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) illegal immigrants enrolled in the programs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Tuesday. The new effort by the CMS will require all states to validate their Medicaid and CHIP enrollment every month. Illegal immigrants in the programs will be identified through a verification process in which CMS will cross-reference enrollees’ names against multiple federal databases.
The enforcement push is the latest attempt by the Trump administration, which is now in its second term, to crack down on illegal immigrants enrolled in taxpayer-funded benefits programs. CMS, which is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, issued a directive in March requiring all states to check the immigration and citizenship status of their Medicaid and CHIP enrollees and provide proof they are eligible for the programs.
CMS is notifying state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to prepare for the changes, and the first verification report to the states will be issued later Tuesday, the department said. In the monthly reports, CMS will flag enrollees it is unable to be verified in federal databases to either prove legal status or citizenship. Among the federal databases will be the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the move is needed to make sure the federal benefits are reserved for U.S. citizens and legal residents who are eligible. “We know Medicaid and CHIP are essential programs for those eligible, and every dollar misspent is a dollar taken away from an eligible, vulnerable individual in need of Medicaid and CHIP,” Oz said in a statement.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. added: “We are tightening oversight of enrollment to safeguard taxpayer dollars and guarantee that these vital programs serve only those who are truly eligible under the law.”
Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants
CMS’s new program represents the most recent effort by the Trump administration to identify and remove illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer-funded benefits. Trump ordered his administration to take action on the issue in February with an executive order requiring agencies to review all public benefit programs and determine how best to screen out illegal immigrants from receiving benefits. At the time, Trump said his order was aimed at enforcing a 1996 law prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving most federal benefits.
The executive order was followed in March by an order from HHS to expand the definition of what programs are considered public benefits. In a statement at the time, HHS said the list of public benefits covered by the 1996 law had grown from 31 to 44 federal programs.
In recent months, however, federal judges have tried to put the brakes on the Trump administration. Just last month, a federal judge in Texas issued a ruling that the Department of Health and Human Services was not allowed to share information on enrollees in benefits programs with immigration enforcement. The HHS had recently begun sharing data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help track down illegal immigrants for deportation. In her ruling, the judge said HHS was overstepping its authority.
CMS’s crackdown on illegal immigrants also comes as the states are dealing with the new statutory requirements on federal spending legislation. The spending bill passed last month requires states to verify eligibility at least twice a year. That’s up from one time a year, and it will apply to nearly all Medicaid enrollees. The measure is currently being challenged in court by a coalition of more than 20 Democratic attorneys general. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the effort, has said the CMS initiative is part of a broad federal effort to undermine enrollment in Medicaid and other federal programs.
